Explanation:
This fire-breathing Dragon can fly.
Pictured above
yesterday, SpaceX Corporation's
Falcon 9 rocket capped with a
Dragon spacecraft
lifted off from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.
The successful launch was significant not only because it
demonstrated that a private company has the ability to re-supply the
International Space Station (ISS), but also that spaceflight has taken a significant step away from being an
endeavor that only big governments can do with public money.
If all continues
as planned,
the robotic Dragon will dock with the ISS this weekend.
Over the next two weeks, the ISS
Expedition 31 crew will then unload Dragon and refill it with used scientific equipment.
In about three weeks, the ISS's robotic arm will then undock
Dragon
and move it to where it can fire its rockets.
Soon thereafter the
Dragon capsule
is expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere, deploy its parachutes, splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, and be recovered.